Alexis Durante
English 122H-01 (Dorrill)
Assignment 1: Li Essay
Draft 1, 4 March 2015
The Concept of Sexuality in “The Princess of Nebraska”
The concept of sexuality as a part of identity, especially in more traditional
cultures, has always been a source of controversy. In The Princess of Nebraska, we find
multiple non-heterosexual characters, some of whom do not subscribe to the labels of a
singular sexuality. For example, Yang is a strikingly beautiful, feminine young man. His
features attract men and women alike, bewildering them. A nan dan, a performer who
plays a woman in the Chinese theatre, Yang has a face that could rival the traditionally
fairer sex. He is portrayed as very coquettish; a shy, delicate creature: “Men loved him
because he was playing a woman; women loved him because he was a man playing.”
(Li, 89). The statement implies that it is rather unusual for a man to embrace his
femininity to such a point. More often than not, to men, femininity is seen as a weakness.
On Yang, however, the feminine cloak he wears to mask himself yields an aura of
seduction for others, even if they themselves may not be clear on the exact reason they
want him. Men who feel the need to hide their sexuality typically find themselves drawn
in by more effeminate men, of which Yang is the perfect example. He is often described
in the story as beautiful, an adjective rarely ever seen to describe a man, yet women and
men alike, especially men like Boshen, are incredibly drawn to this emanation of Yang.
Be it whether human sexuality and attraction are incredibly fluid or that one young man’s
charm is just enigmatic enough to enrapture all genders, The Princess of Nebraska plays
with gender and sexuality in a new, thought-provoking light.
In this story, Li does not portray any character’s sexuality very rigidly. While
Yang is very clear in his attraction to men in his long-term relationship with Boshen, he
also expresses his keen attraction to Sasha. Though she is portrayed as the seductress in
the situation, the one dropping hints to him that she is very much interested, Yang
quickly picks up the hints and reciprocates the desire. There are so many stories where a
male broadly pursues a shy female, yet in Nebraska, Sasha makes her interest in him
known, breaking personal space and initiating action, and Yang is always rather coy, very
reticent. This says a great deal about the characters’ personalities as well. When Sasha is
asked if her name is Mongolian, she answers: “It’s Russian, a name of my mom’s
favorite heroine in a Soviet war novel,” (Li, 85). It reflects boldness and strength, and we
see as much through her attitude toward sexuality and seduction in the story. Yang,
named after the masculine element of nature, is one half of a whole: the masculine and
feminine, the sun and the moon, night and day. Both men and women find his features
stunning and attractive, being a man with such feminine traits. In Sex and Gender,
Beyond the Binaries, authors Joy Johnson and Robin Repta quote gender theorist Judith
Butler on how in a heteronormative society, this is often strange: “heterosexual desire
plays an important role in constructing masculinity and femininity as opposing genders.
She argues that within dominant heterosexuality, the object of masculine desire is
inherently feminine, while the object of feminine desire is inherently masculine.”
(Johnson, Repta, 14). Yang is a complex character, whose fluid sexuality is a reference
to the way that he himself lives in fluidity. He lives a life of intricacy, playing a female
in the theatre and a man at night, and by loving a man by day and selling himself by
night. His character is one of the most fascinating and dynamic in the story for these
reasons.